Like it or not, some Bruins can use extra time off

None of the Bruins are happy that their off-season has already started, but those who played in the Olympics or experienced slow-to-heal injuries should benefit from a longer-than-usual break.

Mike Loftus The Patriot Ledger

They hate to think about it, but a select group of Bruins can use it.

If there’s a silver lining to their second-round exit from the playoffs, it’s a long off-season for some who had extra-long seasons, or had especially persistent injuries.

With a few exceptions, the B’s who started the 2013-14 campaign did so after a short off-season. Last year’s Stanley Cup Final ended June 24, and training camp opened Sept. 11. A compacted regular-season schedule kicked off on Oct. 3, and while most players caught their breath during February’s Sochi Olympics, several Bruins didn’t: Patrice Bergeron, Tuukka Rask, David Krejci, Zdeno Chara and Loui Eriksson all played an extra four to six pressure-packed games while the rest of the team went on vacation.

Eriksson wasn’t as taxed as his new teammates, because he and the Dallas Stars didn’t reach the 2013 playoffs, and he missed 21 games with concussions before the Olympics. The other Bruins, however, are overdue for a long break.

“I haven’t looked at it that way yet,” said Bergeron, who played 98 games this year – 80 regular season, 12 playoffs, and six for Canada’s gold medalists, “but I’m sure having an extra month or so off will give me some time to rest, and then get ready for next year.”

Bergeron didn’t have that luxury last year. Besides the late finish to the season, he had to recover from lung, rib and shoulder injuries sustained in the playoffs before he could begin training.

Krejci didn’t have it as bad, but the quick off-season caused him to shorten yet another summer training program. The same thing happened after the 2011 Stanley Cup run, after the 2010 playoffs (wrist surgery) and in 2009 (hip surgery), as well.

“That’s the only positive thing – the break’s going to be really good,” said Krejci, who played 95 games this year, and had a poor playoff (no goals, four assists in 12 games) after leading the NHL with 26 post-season points in 2013. “I’ll take about a month off, and then I’m going to have time to do my whole, full training – not just get it into four, five weeks. I’m going to have my real training for the first time in a long time.”

Many were concerned about how Rask would hold up over his first 82-game season as a No. 1 goalie, and those concerns grew as he emerged as the starter for bronze medal-winning Finland.

Rask was never worried.

“Throughout the year, I think I was consistent, and I felt good,” he said. “Even Olympics, with some tough travel and (four) games there – I felt good after that.”

Rask played 74 games this season – one fewer than last year, when he played 17 games in the Czech Republic during the NHL lockout – and acknowledged that consecutive lengthy seasons with little time in between may have affected him more than he knew at times.

“I think it’s more of a mental grind,” he said. “I didn’t feel that I was tired, but I think that was one of those things where you don’t even realize that you’re tired. Your mind just goes somewhere, and you don’t even recognize it. But overall, I felt good.”

Chara, who registered his normally high ice-time averages over 93 games (four in the Olympics) of 24:39 in the regular season; 25:20 in the playoffs, said he “felt fine, physically and mentally,” but also admitted that the absence of injured defensemen Dennis Seidenberg and Adam McQuaid was a strain at times.

“That maybe put more load on certain guys, and maybe even on me,” said Chara, 37, adding that he “(hasn’t) given too much thought to next year yet, but I’m going to do my best to be in the best possible shape for next season, like I always do.”

Seidenberg, who was on the verge of returning from Jan. 7 knee surgery, said he’ll “have the whole summer to work on it, get it ready for next year,” while winger Chris Kelly will rehab from upcoming back surgery.

Meanwhile, McQuaid’s May 1 ankle surgery will force him to rest the torn quad muscle that shortened his season to 30 games.

“(The quad) basically needs time to heal,” McQuaid said, “so at this point, I’m in shut-down mode again. There’ll certainly be a lot of work to be done when I start again, but I look forward to that.”

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